


About Kings and Pawns

by LeonYorunaki



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-01-23 03:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18541294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeonYorunaki/pseuds/LeonYorunaki
Summary: He persisted in appearing at every moment of weakness of my soul. He was nothing but a stubborn guy who thought he was going to be able to take the world with his own hands.He always compared himself to chess pieces. Never wanted to be a pawn, a puppet controlled by others. No, he wanted to be the king. He wanted to take control instead of being controlled.He didn't realize, however, he already controlled my feelings.





	1. Cumulus

**Author's Note:**

> IsshuShipping based on the game plot; shipping itself it's not the main focus of the story, rather, the development of Hilbert as a character.
> 
> Cross-posted to Nuzlocke Forums and Nyah! Fanfiction (the latter in brazilian portuguese, language this story was first crafted). I use the same pen name in all of those, so if you see this posted anywhere else and/or under another username, it means it was stolen.
> 
> Updates every weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> Author Responses: This author replies to comments.
> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!

"Why do they always vanish so fast, Hakun?"

Hilbert was slightly annoyed about his friends. Not that he did not know how joyful could Cheren and Bianca be, rather the opposite; they lived together since their early childhood in Nuvema Town. He expected, however, that they could restrain themselves for a few moments, especially in what was the first day of their journeys.

The little Pokémon who accompanied him growled, still not knowing his trainer so well. They had only met each other earlier that morning, but the little orange pig had easily grown fond of his new partner, to the point they felt like long-time friends with each other. Tepig seemed eager to discover the world beyond the limits of Nuvema, at least as much as Hilbert, who was scratching his brown hair under the hat.

"That's right, Hakun, let's get to them!"

They started to run, trying to reach Accumula Town before nightfall. It was not that far from Nuvema, to be fair; Hilbert had the opportunity to visit it a few times, always accompanied by his mother, when she had to make some more specific purchases. Such occasions were rare, but he vaguely remembered each and every one of those.

The feeling of traveling alone, however, was special for him. This would become the new reality in Hilbert's life, which would finally have its journey, now that it had reached the required age to get himself a trainer license.

He was about to become tired when he could glance the first buildings of the Accumula Town; the place wasn't as big compared to the great cities of Unova, but large enough to make Hilbert's eyes shine; mainly due to its big constructions, many of them comprised of several floors, nonexistent in Nuvema. The Tepig, however, did not seem to be able to follow his trainer in the mess of a bigger city compared to the route they were on, on which Hilbert decided to take him on his arms.

Both of them weren’t that far from getting lost among the many shops downtown; Hilbert mentally thanked his mother for all the previous visits in which he accompanied her, otherwise he would not be able to find the building he was looking for, namely the Pokémon Center. Before he got any glimpse of that, however, he was interrupted by a familiar face that appeared in front of him all of a sudden:

"Glad I found you, come here!"

The black-haired boy pulled Hilbert by the arm, after he almost let the Tepig fall from them; not without laughing at his friend’s reaction, surprised as he followed him through that mess of a town. Cheren, the one leading the duo, was one of his impulsive childhood friends, one of the two who had accompanied him as they left Nuvema earlier that day. It was that one thing Hilbert disliked about Cheren; unlike his impulsive friend, he was the kind of guy so centered on his thoughts he was thought to be an introvert by many; while that was not too far from the truth, he'd probably just over-analyzing things.

"Where are we going?" Hilbert asked, curious about his friend's haste.

"Sounds like a lecture, I’m not really sure." Cheren replied. "An expert Pokémon trainer is giving a speech at the square, there are invites all over the town for interested trainers… And we’re already late!"

The two started to run, diverting themselves from a small crowd formed around an improvised stage in the middle of the square. At the center of it, a middle-aged man with long, greenish-blond hair was speaking; judging by the public's reaction, however, his extravagant, purple-toned robe seemed far more appealing than his heated speech.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are very different from humans. They are living beings with a potential beyond our knowledge. It is us who need a great responsibility to them, not the other way around, as many of you may think. Does anyone here know what this responsibility is?"

He turned to the audience, looking for someone who could answer that question. Every second ticking on the clock seemed to make him more and more disappointed, until a timid voice could be shyly heard from the crowd:

"Pokémon liberation?"

His recovery was real quick upon the words given to him:

"That's right, miss. Pokémon liberation. Our mission is to allow them to be free, just as we are as humans! Treating them as equals, without that sense of domination we impose on them with stuff like this!" He drew a pokéball from his pocket, tossing it to the ground in order to release a feline purple-furred Pokémon, purring at the sight of that guy. Even considering his scornful smile and piercing look due to the reddish glint over his eyes, it posed no threat to anyone present.

Then, all of a sudden, the speaker stepped with all of his might onto the pokéball laid open in front to him, destroying it. The Purrloin hissed after realizing what was done by his now former trainer but, not willing to confront him, decided to run, clearly enraged by badly he was treated, leaping from the stage and getting lost among the crowd.

"Move on, Purrloin!" the man continued. "Go for your freedom!"

"Pathetic."

It was no more than a whisper; Hilbert and Cheren looked to their left, trying to see whoever let that last sentence out, finding another young trainer besides them; he kind of stood out in the crowd through his long, shiny green hair tied in a ponytail falling from behind his cap.

"Just scaring everyone, not going anywhere with that odd speech."

The man at the stage ought to think the same, realizing that the reaction from the public to his demonstration had not been what he expected. With that, he decided to put a closing on it.

"I'll end my speech here, in the hopes you'll start rethinking the relationship between you and your Pokémon… and how you should approach them. Have a nice afternoon."

He turned his back to the audience, applauded by some and booed by many, as the crowd dispersed with dubious thoughts about what they had just heard.

"What did you think, Cheren?" Hilbert asked, still wondering if it was even worth it.

"A waste of time; if I ever knew it would be so, I would've stayed in the Pokémon center…"

"I dunno, it wasn't all that bad…" Hilbert replied. "But I would never do that to Hakun…" He caressed his Pokémon as he groaned in approval.

"Uh, excuse me?" The green-haired boy from before interrupted them. "You were saying…"

"It was nothing, I th-" Hilbert turned to the stranger, but was soon interrupted.

"I'm not talking with you, but the Tepig!"

Hilbert and Cheren looked at each other, considering if the green-haired boy was a lunatic or just pretending to be; the stranger groaned in response, as if he really understood Tepig's grunts.

"So you're Hilbert, it seems?" The young man turned to the trainer. "Greetings, my name is… well, you can call me N for now."

"Nice to meet you, I think…"

"Your Pokémon told me that you plan on completing the Pokédex." N continued, ignoring the compliment of Hilbert, who was now left with his right hand hanging. "I imagine you're going to need a lot of pokéballs."

"Calm down!" Cheren stopped him. "You talk too fast!"

"I'm wondering…" N completely ignored Cheren, not even looking at his direction. "Do you think Pokémon are happy with that?"

"Well, Hakun here never complained, probably because I let him out of his pokéball whenever he wants to…"

N immediately turned to the side, now oblivious to Hilbert's reply as well. The freed Purrloin from moments before was crying under a bench not far from where they were; the green-haired guy walked over to him, bending down to talk with the feline.

"This guy is kind of weird, huh?" Cheren spitted.

"I'd rather not judge…" Hilbert replied, a fair moment later, as he watched the boy, now approaching them back. Somehow, N had been able to gain the confidence of the Purrloin, now nestling around his arms.

"Look at this poor one. Never been happy with his old trainer, scared as he was, he had good reason for running away…"

"I think there are trainers and trainers," Cheren replied. "Good ones should know how to treat them well."

"You're just a beginner." He snapped back. "I want to see if you'll keep your words later on. I’ve met a fair number of trainers around Unova, I saw many things that made me suffer for those poor Pokémon that were exploited without any pity in pointless battles…"

Hilbert and Cheren looked at each other again. They couldn’t find a fair answer to the boy's argument.

"I'll take care of this little one now… But I want you to remember what I'm going to say." He made a dramatic pause, fitting the two friends. "Pokémon are not your pets; as long as they are trapped in pokéballs, they will never reach their perfection. Think about it before you do what you think is right…"

"You have your convictions." said Hilbert, while N was already turning away. "And I have mine."

"Don’t ever forget that!" N replied, without looking back.

"We'd better go too, Hilbert." Cheren put an end to that conversation. "Bianca should be waiting for us in the Pokémon center."

The two friends walked back through the streets of Accumula, without the same motivation as before. Cheren looked calm, but Hilbert still had those last words stuck on his head. He could not agree with what he just listened, but couldn’t deny it was a rather interesting experience for the first day of his journey.


	2. Nacreous

Two weeks had passed since Hilbert's journey through Unova started, not without going through a lot of distractions on his path, which grew increasingly separate from the ones of Cheren and Bianca.

Cheren, at least, seemed eager enough to become the best trainer in Unova, there was no question about it. His determination could be seen in practice when they decided to challenge the Striaton gym together; both of them got their first badge at the same day. Hilbert had a certain difficulty to overcome the Panpour of his opponent, mainly because of the type disadvantage of his Tepig against the water monkey, but was still able to emerge with the win. Cheren and his Oshawott, however, defeated the opposing Pansage so quickly that even the gym leader was astounded.

Bianca, on the opposite, was still not mature enough for her own safety. Hilbert found her at Route 3, chasing a group of Pidoves which had stolen her backpack in a moment of distraction. It took a coordinated effort from both Hakun and the girl’s Snivy to recover her belongings. With that, Hilbert decided to escort her path up to Nacrene City; he almost regretted it, though, given Bianca’s complete lack of coordination. To be fair, she was real lucky on having such a smart Pokémon on Snivy; Bianca would certainly be in a bigger trouble otherwise.

Hilbert, however, was lacking a real goal in his journey so far. In addition to Hakun, he had the company of a Munna, yet to be friendly with him, who he had found wandering in Striaton. As far as he could tell, the psychic pokémon was abandoned by his former trainer. Hilbert had given the Pokémon the choice to follow him or to stay in a nearby forest; while he chose the former option, they still had a long path on getting to trust each other.

It was about the Munna that Hilbert was thinking about, almost daydreaming, when the nurse had finished healing his pokémon in Nacrene. Together with Bianca, they had arrived earlier that day, moments before lunchtime; she was resting since after her meal, but he was too awake for doing the same. He then decided to go out and check what the city had to offer, hoping to find something cool enough to distract him from his own thoughts.

While walking around the city, he tried to imagine what made that city so interesting to be considered an important place for trainers. Unlike Striaton, there wasn’t any remindful landmark like its restaurant (that one turned out to be the Pokémon Gym for that city, as he quickly remembered), and its commercial area was lackluster, even when comparing to Nuvema’s. Also, the railway line that used to go through the city had been deactivated a few years before.

The only worthy place left was the Natural History Museum that Nacrene still housed. In order not to consider his trip a complete waste, Hilbert decided to visit the current exhibition of Pokémon fossils.

What wasn’t his surprise, however, when he literally bumped into a known face at the museum entrance?

“Look where you’re going!” Hilbert shouted.

“You were the unaware one!” N, the green-haired boy from Accumula, replied.

While Hilbert could not remember many details of the odd meeting between the two of them; he could clearly recall the unusual convictions of that guy, together with his strange behavior; it wouldn’t be an easy task to forget _that_.

“Let’s not turn this into an argument.” N added.

“Yeah, right, sorry about bumping on you.”

“Still… Did you think about it?”

“About what?”

“You still have your Pokémon imprisoned, come on! You know you’re not supposed to do that!”

“My problem, not yours!”

Hilbert got slightly annoyed by the comment. Those two weeks traveling with Hakun, if anything, were enough to make him confident enough with the trust between trainer and Pokémon. Of course, he couldn’t say the same about the Munna just yet, but it should be just a matter of time to get that one on the same page.

“I try to see what nobody else can.” At N’s words, Hilbert just started walking towards the museum, leaving the other behind; the green-haired boy went right after him, ignoring how Hilbert wasn’t giving a damn about his thoughts. “The truths of how Pokémon feel while they're trapped on these things. The ideals of how trainers are supposed to behave. I just want our future to lead into perfection. Do you understand where I'm going?”

“Whatever.”

“I expected more from you, you know?”

Hilbert focused on one of the fossils exposed in the museum, dubbed as Luminous Gem; it appeared to be just a round white stone like any other, with a bright, polished surface; in fact, it had no exceptional characteristics beyond being found along with other rare artifacts during an excavation on the ruins of Relic Castle. The trainer’s real focus, though, was to avoid looking at N, knowing that the less attention he’d give him, the more likely the guy would shut it.

Hilbert wondered, though, why he did still care about him.

“If I show you what I think with a Pokémon Battle, will you change your mind?” Hilbert turned to N, disbelieving his own words towards him.

“You keep treating your Pokémon as tools, weapons for war!” N answer was still in a soft tone, even though your speech was even faster than usual. “If everyone thinks the same you, the future of us all will be ruined!”

Hilbert felt bad for him, for some reason he couldn’t quite explain; his heart seemed to skip a beat when he saw the disappointment in the face of N.

“My friends and I can't save the world yet…” the green-haired one insisted. “Maybe one day I can show the world how everyone is wrong…” He seemed to contemplate the artifact alongside the Luminous Gem; a hieroglyphic illustration about the great legend of Unova, the Origin Dragon. According to that, there was a powerful dragon in ancient times, ruled by two brothers together. After a disagreement between them, the dragon split itself into two smaller entities, named Reshiram and Zekrom; each of them followed the beliefs of one of the brothers. These mighty dragons had several historical records, enough that their existence was even recognized by the Pokédex; the Origin Dragon, however, was considered by all pokémon researchers as only a myth.

“Yes, I know what I need.” N was probably daydreaming himself, judging by how his face turned bright all of a sudden. “Zekrom. The ruler of Unova, the dragon of ideals. With his help, I can show the world the evil that you trainers do to your Pokémon.”

Hilbert had to make an effort not to laugh. The other was too much of a dreamer, yet he was convinced he could make all Pokémon free.

“Has anyone ever told you how stubborn you are?” Hilbert asked with a brief smile, still trying to hold a big laugh

“It’s called persistence.” N gave a wide smile back, stretching out the hand. “Friends?”

“Yeah, friends.” Hilbert greeted him; slightly uncomfortable about the warmth of the boy’s hands.

“Wait for me, Hilbert!” N talked, turning back to the museum's exit. “I’ll be the hero Unova needs!”

_Not the hero that Unova deserves_ , thought Hilbert, as he watched this newfound friend walking away.


	3. Nimbus

Nimbasa could not be the largest city in Unova, but it was definitely the most hectic. There was no way to truly compare it to Castelia, the great metropolis now left behind, full of people trapped inside their suits, into small working bays, locked into those huge commercial buildings. Freedom, however, was less than a mile away, just ahead.  
  
Hilbert caught himself wondering what he would do first after getting to the new city; probably something not directly related to his trainer issues. Arriving should take no longer than a few minutes, after those two long days stuck into a scorching desert, a path only made less boring than walking through plain sand because of the construction works for a major highway. That should be reason enough for him to take a day off.  
  
Seizing the dawn, he took a sidetrack before going towards the city, in order to start his daily training through what he claimed to be his most creative idea, just as he released Loony from his pokéball.  
  
The Munna that Hilbert had captured in Striaton had completely changed his attitude towards the trainer, ever since that new training method started, a couple of days before. What started as a last resort for getting the trust from the psychic ended up as method to enhance not only his powers, but the relationship between trainer and Pokémon as a whole.  
  
Sitting in the shadow of a big concrete block, Hilbert closed his eyes, bringing some recent memories to his mind…  
  
He could already see Bianca; lost among the streets of Castelia. Clumsy and out of her comfort zone, the girl was in some deep trouble after her Snivy’s pokéball ended up stolen. The brief moment of tension quickly settled down with the interference of Burgh, a young art curator of the city museum, who realized what had happened and, together with Hilbert, managed to stop the culprit, a member of the infamous Team Plasma, known for stealing Pokémon from unaware trainers.  
  
The memory was gone with a snap, while an acrid aroma filled the surrounding air.  
  
“Sorry about that, Loony.” Hilbert whispered to his Pokémon after bringing himself back to reality. The Munna had used one of his known moves, namely the Dream Eater, feeding on the boy's dreams. Such an ability was not exclusive to the species; however, by doing so, Munna (and its evolved form, Musharna) released a small amount of purple-toned haze, called Dream Mist. That thing had quickly popularized as a hallucinogen among young people because of its property to induce people back into the dreams it was generated from, to the point of having its recreational use prohibited. Loony’s had a unique trait to boot; his Dream Mist always had some unique aroma, directly related to whichever dream he had been fed to create it.  
  
“I'm going to give you something better now.” Hilbert added, just before closing his eyes again.  
  
The Munna whistled back to his trainer. What brought him to like Hilbert as a trainer was mainly the diverse taste of his dreams and memories. And by feeding itself with those, Loony was able to understand his partner better, realizing that, unlike his previous trainer, he did not wish him any harm.  
  
The scenery had changed to the same desert they had been traveling on the day before, except for the fact it was much hotter; no wonder about that, since Hilbert and Hakun were in a friendly battle with Cheren and his Darumaka. The two fiery Pokémon were grappling themselves in the hot sands from Route 4; the Tepig was in a slight terrain disadvantage, not as used to the environment compared to his opponent, who was in his natural habitat, but had the upper hand at that moment in the battle. Tension of that moment seemed palpable to each of the trainers, while both pokémon kept dodging the other’s heated tackles… until the memory got wiped out from his mind, bringing a scent closely related to wine to his nostrils; Hilbert felt relieved that his memory was consumed just in time. He knew the outcome of the battle was not exactly his most enjoyable memory, considering he had been defeated by Cheren, who had shown himself a much more capable trainer, coming up with an unexpected strategy.  
  
Loony whistled, apparently asking for another dream to feed on. Hilbert, however, had depleted his stock of memories, at least the ones which could produce a good output. He knew that he shouldn't interrupt Munna just yet, considering that the training was at the same time his nutrient source; with that, he decided to take the risk and bring his imagination into the mix…  
  
With his eyes closed again, Hilbert saw himself in Nimbasa, at least according to what he remembered from the ads. Going through the crowded amusement park, he was still undecided on which attraction would visit first. He caught himself looking in particular at the roller coaster, just as he got distracted by N, who appeared out of nowhere in front of him.  
  
“Come on, let's go to the Ferris Wheel!”  
  
The green-haired boy couldn’t hold his smile, grabbing Hilbert by his hand. Some weird feeling went through his chest, as if he knew something was off… and Hilbert's mind emptied itself for the third time, while a soft citrus scent filled out the air. The trainer looked at his Munna, knowing that his Pokémon was finally satisfied from what he got. With a plastic bottle he brought with him, he stood up, trying to pull the Dream Mist inside, in order to save it for some peaceful moment he could use it on himself later. The hardest part was trying not to breathe while that; it wouldn’t be nice to get under its effect that early in the morning, which he had learned the hard way.  
  
Not when he planned to get to be resting at Nimbasa’s Pokémon Center in the next hour. Hilbert was packing his things in order to arrive before the sun could bring that awful heat back. And, while he actually did arrive earlier than expected, it wasn’t without a setback.  
  
If he wasn't such an altruistic person, he'd probably ignore what he had seen, for his own safety. However, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy after seeing an elder man being thrown into the sand by two men wearing some kind of medieval clothing. Hilbert recognized the uniforms from afar; they were peculiar enough not to be noted as the Plasma’s usual vests.  
  
“Hakun, emergency!” Hilbert threw his pokéball, bringing the Tepig into hurling a fireball into the sky. Hopefully, that would be seen as a warning sign, bringing the attention of whichever trainers were nearby;  
  
Hilbert immediately ran to the elder, in order to help him. Despite some small bruises, he didn't have any serious injuries.  
  
“I'm fine” he said, “but they took my Drilbur… I'm afraid of what's going to happen to him…”  
  
“Calm down, sir, I’m going to help you!” Hilbert then helped him to get back up, not without noticing another trainer was approaching through the sky, flying with the help of a Mandibuzz.  
  
“Need any help?”  
  
“Team Plasma got this guy’s pokémon!” Hilbert replied. “Make sure he’s safe, 'cause I’m going after them!”  
  
And, without wasting any time, he started to run towards Nimbasa following the footsteps they left behind; Hilbert had a great advantage over the Plasma for that matter, considering his physical shape and age. Still, he couldn't reach them, losing the sight of them just as they turned right, just into the city's amusement park.  
  
“Come on… where could they have gone?”  
  
He looked everywhere, without much success. Hiding in plain sight onto that summer sea of people, their extravagant clothes could go unnoticed easily considering how big was the crowd.  
  
The very next moment, Hilbert was facing the exact same thing he was daydreaming about when training with his Munna, when N grabbed his arm all of a sudden.  
  
“It’s been some time now, Hilbert!”  
  
The green hair of N looked even brighter that morning. His smile was outspoken, his arms were open, as if looking for a hug…  
  
“Sorry, that’ll have to wait, I'm busy right now.” Hilbert felt bad for his friend, but finding the Plasma goons were the main priority. “I'm looking for two people…”  
  
N could easily see the concern in Hilbert's face, and quickly replied.  
  
“I’ll help you!”  
  
N dragged him towards one of the attractions of the park, the same one he had seen earlier while dreaming.  
  
“Let's go for the Ferris Wheel! We can see the whole thing from its top, it'll be easier to find your partners!”  
  
Hilbert, took by surprise, could not answer before entering the cabin, which immediately shut them both in.  _Dammit!_  
  
“They're not my friends, they're thieves! Two Plasma goons stole a Pokémon from an elder guy, I'm trying to get them back!”  
  
“Trust me on that one, Hilbert!”  
  
The wheel was starting to rise, as well as Hilbert’s blood pressure. Staring through the glass of the Ferris wheel, the thieves of which he had lost sight wasn’t the only thing getting him worried at that moment. He couldn’t help but baffle himself with the situation he was in; even more so when he realized why he had imagined exactly that when training Loony.  
  
“You worry too much, try to relax for a while!”  
  
“It's not about me, a trainer got attacked and his pokémon stolen from him!”  
  
“Have you ever seen this guy you’re helping before?”  
  
Hilbert wanted to answer that yes, knowing how N would react if he was sincere, but he couldn’t bring himself to lie. In the absence of an answer of his, N went on.  
  
“There's a reason for everything. What would those goons get from stealing Pokémon from a defenseless old guy? What would be their motivation?”  
  
“It doesn't matter, what they do is wrong!”  
  
The wheel had not yet finished to gain height when N managed to break Hilbert with a simple question.  
  
“What does ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ truly mean?”  
  
Hilbert decided not to answer that one, trying to figure out what N was up to with that.  
  
“History is always told by the winning side, Hilbert. If we don't know what the other side think, we can’t truly judge them from whatever we've been indoctrinated ever since… Try and give yourself the chance to hear what they have to say, and I'm sure you would change your mind.”  
  
_He's got to be kidding_ , he thought.  _What a waste of time…_  
  
“Don’t take me wrong for what I’m about to say, but I think the Plasmas are not wrong to get humans and pokémon apart…”  
  
Hilbert couldn't feel angered at the boy with whom he was on the panoramic wheel, as much as he wanted to. Turning his back to the green-haired guy, in a vain hope to locate the evildoers, he tried to ignore what he had just heard, but the words of N kept weighing on his head. When he couldn’t handle it anymore, he ended sitting on the floor of the cabin, unable to answer properly to that kind of madness.  
  
“This world is just like chess.” N took the opportunity he was given and went on. “We might think we're the kings of our lives, but we're just pawns in a big board.”  
  
“If so, we’re on opposing sides of the board.” Hilbert found his inner strength to answer. “And it means I’ll have to fight you, because I can’t agree with a single word of what you’re saying!”  
  
“You think that, as if you can decide how the pieces move on this board, you're too innocent to realize how things work…”  
  
Both the wheel and Hilbert’s head had gone through a full revolution. The latter completely broken, after being left behind, baffled by how naïve he had been to believe it could have worked well.  
  
Later that afternoon, unable to face his failure, Hilbert ended up using his whole stock of Dream Mist.


	4. Tourmaline

If it could be put that way, a new Hilbert was born after what happened in Nimbasa. The main reason for it was, obviously, passing out just outside of the town, after what was close to an overdose of Dream Mist. Luck was on his side, considering that no one bat an eye to him twice; chances were he would get his trainer license revoked if caught on that state, at the very least.  
  
After recovering from the mess he left himself, however, consciousness stroke him hard enough to rebuild as a new person. Only one thing could bring him back and strong as a trainer, which became his newfound personal goal: to defeat Cheren in a battle. Hakun and Loony were definitely glad about the change, finally feeling the trainer close to them again, ever since he had started with those Dream Eater training sessions.   
  
With that newfound trust on the team, it was only natural to get it to expand; the number of traveling companions doubled in a single day. Audino, being added to the roster after being spotted rustling the grass right next to the trainer, seemed to neutralize his negative thoughts, which he had avoided doing with Loony for the last twenty days. The fear of relapsing was real, so Hilbert encouraged him to feed on the dreams of wild Pokémon until he felt again prepared, to which Munna agreed once he understood the reason. In addition to him, the Emolga that had been caught while being attacked by Loony, had joined them. The rodent, not to Hilbert’s surprise, had been shy with every other member of the team, except for Audino; both the new pokémon seemed to have known each other from way before joining the team.  
  
Because of this, Hilbert decided to name the duo with very suggestive names; Nuts and Volts, respectively.  
  
The results of this new phase of Hilbert's journey were visible. Hakun evolved, getting himself an imposing form as Pignite. The performance while battling through the gyms had also quite the improvement, evidenced through the badges he had acquired. Hilbert did not remember how he managed to get the one in Nacrene, after losing the battle against Lenora; pity, perhaps? He didn’t even battle against Burgh, the leader of Castelia's gym, getting the badge as a gift in honor of his courage after rescuing Bianca’s Snivy that had been stolen, defeating a few Plasma goons back then. Hilbert couldn't be comfortable with situations like this anymore.  
  
The compensation came in the following two gyms. After two memorable battles against Elesa and Clay, the trainer finally reclaimed his self-confidence. And more than that, he was carrying five badges in his case now. Hilbert did not have any desire for the League Challenge, unlike Cheren; aiming for the badges was nothing but a rivalry with his childhood friend, which he had not met since the frustrating battle in the desert. Cheren, however, had his aim at the fame and power that would come if he became champion, even though the current occupant of the post had not been defeated in more than a decade.  
  
Though he was kind of used to loneliness, Hilbert was not comfortable traveling alone. He had his Pokémon, there was no denying it; he could not have a real conversation with them, however. As much as they understood how the trainer felt, they could not reply in an intelligible manner; attitudes and behavior were often not enough to translate how they really felt.  
  
That was the cue to remember about N. The green-haired boy had talked to Hakun when he met at Accumula; everything led to believe that he had understood him for real. He did the same again right after, with that Purrloin who had been abandoned. Definitely, it’d be some much easier life if Hilbert had had the same gift.  
Hilbert shivered, feeling himself cold that morning despite summer being still close to ending; obviously, his trembling had nothing to do with temperature. It has been exactly twenty days since they last met, back at Nimbasa’s Ferris Wheel. Remembering what happened there was enough to surface whichever feelings he had kept dormant ever since.  
  
Despite fighting against it, there was kind of a secret desire for meeting him again. He knew they would end up fighting one another, maybe with more than just words. N would insist on that thing to get pokémon apart from humans, that his pokémon would be less happy with him than they would be if they were free. But, in that obviously uncomfortable encounter, Hilbert was sure he’d find something to bring himself a smile. And every time he thought about it, the urge to ask Loony to drain his mind with Dream Eater attacked back. While it should not cause him any harm, he feared getting himself any closer to any source of Dream Mist.  
  
Not the time to think about that; as he approached that gray-stoned cave. It was the shortest path to reach Mistralton, with the closest detour taking two days longer; if all went well, though, he could get across the cavern before nightfall.  
  
N, however, did not come out of its mind. It would be the most dangerous stretch of the path he had been taking in the last three days, since pokémon as Drilbur or Woobat could attack him at any time. It would be the journey leg on which he most needed to concentrate himself on…  
  
Hilbert couldn’t help but surrendering to Loony’s ability, sitting next to the cave’s entrance. He knew he couldn’t go on without cleaning his mind as well and, considering how winds were getting stronger, he felt himself safe enough from the mist.  
  
Within minutes, the citrus aroma could be felt again.  
   
  


~

  
  
   
With an emptied mind and all of his focus on the dangerous path ahead, Hilbert walked deeper and deeper into the cave, surprised by the large blue crystals floating a few inches above the ground, which reflected back the glow of the gems. Such a beauty could be either a curse or a blessing; it meant he could watch the road ahead without Hakun’s help to illuminate the cave, but could easily become a distraction as well; he had to hold his curiosity of touching one of the crystals, knowing nothing good could come out of it.  
  
His watchful eye found some metallic Pokémon matching perfectly with the environment. The Klink resembled some old machinery; moving themselves as such. The mechanical clockwork of the gears rotating rhythmically clicking each other, drummed louder into his ear each step further. No wonder that path had been considered dangerous. Unprepared trainers could lose their sanity while trying to cross the short route. Hilbert, however, focused only on his path, certain that he would reach Mistralton soon enough, before driving himself crazy…  
  
“Tick-tock!”  
  
The trainer tried to jump backwards after the unfitting noise, but could not feel his feet touching the ground anymore; metallic noises now mixed with the human voice perceived at the foot of his ear… before he could understand what happened, Hilbert felt himself being carried by three people, dressed in exactly the same way; a strip of brown cloth covered most of their faces and chests; together with pants of the same color and long black gloves. They all had white hair, falling slightly above the waist. At a closer look, one ought to find subtle differences between each of them, but that privilege was not granted to the trainer, too busy trying to scream for help despite having his mouth covered by one of them.  
  
With his arms also tight-held, he couldn't reach his pokéballs in the backpack, finding himself defenseless. The trio advanced with him, away from the main path, heading toward a slit invisible to a careless wanderer…  
  
“Let him go!”  
  
Hilbert couldn't help but be glad upon hearing that voice, despite his surprise. Trying to figure out what N could be doing in that cave, and making a mental note to ask, the trainer would be happy even if didn't get that chance, since the presence of the green-haired boy was enough to drive the trio away, leaving Hilbert there, tossed away like a trash bag.  
  
“How lucky of you that I was here, Hilbert!” N brought it in, in his calm but fast tone the trainer was used to hear. “You have no idea of what kind of danger you were in.”  
  
“I don't care enough to wonder” he answered, getting up and cleaning up the excess dust. “Who the crap are these guys?”  
  
“They're the Shadow Triad. Silent murderers, I bet my pendant they are working for the Plasma.” N glanced at Hilbert, making a pause on his speech to think. “I wonder what they could want from you.”  
  
“I have nothing of value but my pokémon… you seem to know more than me about them, take a guess for me…”  
  
“They wouldn't send the Triad if all they wanted were a couple of pokémon, Hilbert!”  
  
The trainer was trying to remember something that might have attracted the attention of the Plasma. Definitely it wasn’t their meeting at Nimbasa, because that one flushed away exactly because of N.  
  
“You said that day in Nimbasa you were with the Plasma. What now?”  
  
“You must have misheard it” he replied. “I said I agree with the Plasma's  _point of view_ , not with their  _methods_. They preach they can create peace by separating humans and Pokémon, but I can see nothing but a war starting.”  
  
“You shouldn’t have stopped me that day, then!”  
  
“There is no black or white; our world is made with shades of gray.”  
__  
There he comes with this crap again…  
  
“Look around you, what do you see?” N asked.  
  
“Crystals. Blue gems, floating above a gray rocky floor.”  
  
“Your eyesight is still too solid to understand, Hilbert.” N seemed disappointed. “I see the magnetism that keeps the stones floating. But over that, I see a pure place, somewhere human greed has not yet contaminated the purity of the Pokémon…”  
  
“Could you stop talking about that stuff for one damn second, N?”  
  
“Not until you open your eyes. This is a sample of the ideal world I want to build; a small place without people to interfere, look at that beautiful harmony… can you understand it now?”  
  
The trainer shut himself up, definitely not in the mood of bringing that argue further. He didn't want to be rude to the one person who had just saved his life.  
  
“Hilbert, look at me.” N approached him, with a softer tone now. “Do you have a dream? Something you won't rest about until you accomplish it?”  
  
He already knew the answer. He’d been feeling uneasy because of the negative ever since he first asked that question himself; it took a while to get him to admit, in a silent gesture, that didn't have any real goals. Defeating Cheren wasn't a dream, it was just a short-term obsession that kept him awake.  
  
“As if a person who doesn't dream could understand me…” N has begun to walk away, trying to end the conversation in a somewhat friendly tone. “At least you take care, Hilbert. They know more about you than  _even you_  do.”  
  
“What the heck do you mean by that?”  
  
“If this is a chess game” N glanced at him, while leaving his friend behind, “let's say your pawn is about to be promoted…”  
  
“Why can’t you be clear at least once in your life?”  
  
“See you soon, Hilbert.”


	5. Mist

If Hilbert could describe his last night with a single word, it’d be _worry._

The remainder of his path through Mistralton Cave was completely safe, despite how troubled he was after what just happened; it took longer than he expected to find his way out. The city was not too long ahead, its lights could be seen at a distance. He decided not to move forward just yet, camping in the outskirts, knowing he wouldn’t be able to find a room in the pokémon center being already past midnight.

Despite the long journey, he couldn’t sleep, his feelings all mixed together: fear, concern, fatigue. And, above them all, self-loathing.

Who could be sure he wouldn’t be caught by the Shadow Triad again while sleeping? As far as he knew, they’re able to end someone’s life before the victim could notice their presence; not a good thing to remember when he discovered himself as a target. And what about his pokémon? What would stop them from having the same fate if the worst happened? His legs were throbbing, had been since the moment he stopped walking. It was to be expected, after rushing through the irregular terrain underground; doing so in a magnetic field probably made it even worse.

None of these, however, surpassed his desire to extend that short conversation he had with N. It was hard enough to figure out _why_ , but only made worse because he _shouldn’t_.

He couldn’t have a better opportunity to find out more about him, though. Something about that boy was mysterious, enough to draw more attention than he should. Hilbert felt it difficult not to nourish some kind of feelings toward the boy; those would not likely find its way back. He would’ve given some kind of hint otherwise.

_If only he talked about something other than that Pokémon liberation bullshit…_

The “pawn about to be promoted” thing kept resonating in his head. Was he talking like that on purpose, only to make him curious? It was clear enough to Hilbert that he knew more than he wanted to say.

In that battle of feelings, however, fatigue ended up winning.

 

~

 

Unlike the previous night, Hilbert's arrival the next day couldn't have started any better. Finding Bianca around the Pokémon Center was his first source of joy, and much like himself, it felt as if she had become someone else. Reason found just behind her, shaped as Professor Juniper, the same one who had presented the trio with their first Pokémon. Some small talking later, he found out Bianca and Juniper were heading to the very same cave he came from the night before. The girl more excited about whichever research they would do than the mentor. Hilbert did not forget about Shadow Triad but, considering they would be exploring the place as a group of seven trainers, shutting up would probably be for the best.

Relieved about Bianca having found herself, it was time for him to do the same, which translated into as a battle at Mistralton’s gym. He still had his goal of surpassing Cheren’s strength and, believing he already got that badge, he had no reason not to fight for it. It wouldn’t be an easy task, since he was a first-timer on aerial battles. Volts, however, was glad enough to prove him wrong, defeating both of Skyla’s pokémon without breaking a sweat, to the surprise of both trainers.

Hilbert thought nothing could spoil that day, as he left the gym with another badge filling his case.

As soon as he opened the door to leave the gym, his Emolga now perched in his shoulder, the boy realized he was wrong.

“I thought you’d be here, where else?” N’s voice, unlike the last time they met, wasn’t as comforting as he expected.

“You again?”

“I bet you won against the gym leader, your smile can’t hide it. How can you be so happy about it?”

Hilbert faced his friend, eager to give some rough answer to see how he’d react. Realizing it wouldn’t help with his plan on getting N to talk, he quickly discarded that option.

“Volts is happy, and I’m happy because of him.”

The Emolga winked to N, who now ignored the trainer and decided to face the electric Pokémon instead.

“Hey, can I talk to you? How do you feel?”

Not even N was prepared to his reaction.

“Calm down, Volts!” Hilbert petted him, as a response to his fast hissing. “He's a friend of mine, you don’t have to worry!”

“I'm the one to say not to worry,” N replied. “I’ve heard enough, he made clear he doesn't trust me.”

“Why are you being so honest with this?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

They both stared at each other, only for them to give up and smile right after. Hilbert felt a roar inside, which he couldn’t figure if the reason was from whatever the green-haired boy was hiding from him, or merely by his presence.

“So… What the hell were you trying to say yesterday?”

“Sorry, can’t tell you just yet. You never know who might be listening…”

“You’re hiding me something that may put me in danger, why can’t you talk straight to me, like, once in a lifetime?”

“Uh… remember our conversation at the Nacrene museum?”

“I guess, we bumped into each other and started arguing…”

“You're hopeless, Hilbert…” N put one of his hands around his face, thinking about his next words. “I suggest you to study about the Origin Dragon myth. I’m sure it’ll help you later on.”

His mind was brought to the exhibit, a vague memory of those artifacts found at Relic Castle. They weren’t interesting enough for him to remember any detail about them.

“If you really believe that training Pokémon is healthy, we'll have to face each other real soon. And, despite not wishing to see you as an opponent, I want you to be prepared for when we do.”

N turned his back, leaving Hilbert behind with more questions than answers as of his last words.

“Trainers and their Pokémon will be torn apart, whether you want it or not… But it makes me sad to think people like you are going to get hurt…”

Hilbert, reactionless, moved on not to the Pokémon center, but through the east exit and outside the town again. He knew no one could mend him but his own self, lacking comfort not because of what he heard, but because what he _didn’t._

_Why am I such a mess every time we talk?_

_Should I have any hopes up, or I’m just fancying it?_

_Why did Volts dislike him that much? Could he see something I didn’t?_

Hilbert still tried to get an answer to the last question, without any success. Considering the Emolga didn’t take any damage in the battle, he’d be nice with just some rest, but not just yet; any attempt to get a word from him was fruitless, even with Loony's help, since its psychic powers were limited to draining dreams as food.

And that’s what he ended up doing right after. Because N was able to get away from Hilbert in real life, but never in his dreams, increasingly citric; the last of them brought some side effects beyond the aroma coming from the Dream Mist he just expelled.


	6. Spire

Moonlight shone bright despite the continuous flow of snowflakes, piling themselves over Icirrus town. Hilbert, again, had settled not in a pokémon center, rather than in the town outskirts, except he wasn’t late this time.  
  
The main reason was standing right next to him, asleep under a tent close to the lake. Hilbert was about to do the same, nearby the green-haired boy whom he had been arguing for the whole day.   
  
They had settled a truce, enough to get Hilbert to his knees as he opened his sleeping bag, leaning towards N and gently touching the boy’s lips with his own, gently wishing him good night…  
  
It didn’t last long enough. A shiver came down through Hilbert’s spine, definitely unrelated to the non-existent snow he expected to see. He should have expected it, first because it was still too early in autumn to see snow, and second because he knew he was alone by choice, staying stray to the pokémon center for his own safety.   
  
“Shouldn’t be bothering you that much… sorry about that.”  
  
A big cloud of Dream Mist found its way upwards, but the citrus aroma persisted in the air, as a reminder that Loony was the sole reason he still had his sanity. It took no more than a week for Hilbert’s secret desires to grow bigger than Munna’s capability, being the main reason for his evolution to a Musharna, aided by a Moon Stone found way earlier.  
  
Other than relying on Dream Eater to control himself, Hilbert found out that pokémon battles were a good way to let his steam out. Icirrus gym was the target earlier that day and, between an out-of-shape Brycen after he had retired from his acting job at Pokéstar Studios, Hakun’s evolution to Emboar the day before, and a light-headed Vanilluxe as opponent, Brycen never had any chance.  
  
But seven badges were not enough, because Hilbert was a day behind Cheren; he was close enough to have some hope. At that rate, his rival should have already left towards Opelucid, where the hardest gym in Unova was located. And, while Hilbert intended to do the same, he had a decent plan brewing.  
  
Because, obviously, Cheren wouldn’t let a chance to get some more training slip by, his tendency to travel through longer routes as an excuse to get his pokémon pumped up was the reason Hilbert was able to catch him up despite losing about three weeks early on, something he could not forgive himself. And, because of that, he knew that doing the last stretch by train would allow him to surpass Cheren in speed.  
  
But he couldn’t have planned for  _that_.  
  
Brought back to reality through the loud, cracking noise coming from the north, the trainer wasn’t fond of the idea to repack and check what could have awakened the whole city.  
  
A lightning strike hitting the top of Icirrus’ biggest tower, however, was unusual enough to make him change his mind.  
  
It couldn’t have been a natural phenomenon, it wasn’t even  _cloudy_. It couldn’t have been anything but work of some intruders, on which Hilbert had already an idea of who could that be.  
  
And, despite his curiosity, made clear when he finally packed his things and rushed towards the building, he had already decided he wouldn’t get himself into any mess.  
  
It’d be silly to think he’d be the first to get there. Obviously, a fair number of people were already at Dragonspiral Tower’s location when he arrived, watching things from a distance. Except for a group of four, getting themselves together in a plan to check things from inside.  
  
He was shocked to see he knew all four of them.  
  
Brycen, Juniper, Bianca and Cheren; the first one was who noticed Hilbert’s presence first from a distance:  
  
“Great, the big one is here too. Are you coming with us?”  
  
“Isn’t it dangerous?”  
  
“It smells like Plasma’s work. Believe me, it’ll be worth the risk!”  
  
“There’s a reason the tower was closed.” Juniper added. “They must have nothing to lose if they’re going this far.”  
  
“Let’s settle this, we’re losing time!” Cheren spoke, almost sounding rude. “The girls stay here on guard, if anything happens you protect yourselves first and let us know later. Brycen, Hilbert, we should already be inside!”  
  
Soon enough, darkness engulfed the trio as they went further inside; concern as their main companion. It didn’t take long for Cheren to take a Darmanitan outside his pokéball, using his flames as a light source. Hilbert was about to do the same with his Emboar, but got stopped by Brycen halfway through.  
  
“One is enough.” He whispered. “Save yours in case we need to battle.”  
  
But the glimpse of light they had was not enough, stairs nowhere to be found. These must be around somewhere, since the tower was tight-shut from the top.  
  
“What could have driven those guys to this tower of all things?” Hilbert asked, almost tripping over some marble piece that ought to be part of the building before it went to ruins.  
  
“Don’t tell me you don’t know about this tower…” Cheren, who was closer, replied. “Ever heard about Reshiram and Zekrom?”  
  
“I guess…”  
  
“Of course you didn’t, so let me tell you. Three thousand years ago, these two dragons destroyed most of Unova in a rampage. But this is only half of what really happened.”  
  
 _Not that crap again…_  
  
Hilbert considered the chance of finding N atop the tower instead of a bunch of Plasma goons. Could he have done all that mess alone?  
  
“Archaeologists says they fought themselves to death. Bullshit. I’m more inclined to think they’ve been turned to stone as some old legend suggested. That lightning from before is proof enough to me.”  
  
“Wait, are you suggesting that…”  
  
“…that Zekrom is upstairs now? He had always been there. The difference is that he has awoken now.”  
  
Hilbert hasn’t caught himself interested on that tale, not even after N suggested him to do so. He couldn’t concentrate himself on anything when he thought about the boy, which was reason enough to not get close to anything that could remind of him…  
  
“Found it!”  
  
Brycen’s voice brought him back to reality, reminding himself that danger would be found ahead. If Zekrom was a pokémon as powerful as legend suggested, he could destroy not only the tower, but the whole of Icirrus without missing a beat. What chance could three trainers have against something that strong?  
  
Climbing the thing was much easier now they had found a way to. Nothing suggested there was still someone up, at least until they got one floor under the last, when some human barrier was around the stairs, too scared to move either way.  
  
“You heard the roar, I’m not going there!”  
  
“Too late to turn back now, we’ve got some company!”  
  
If anything could be told about the involvement of Team Plasma on that mess, the heroes were half right. There was about a dozen of them there, but their presence seemed unrelated to whatever was happening above their heads.  
  
“Leave now and I’ll let that slip.” Brycen shouted from behind the younger trainers. “Or we can do this the hard way.”  
  
That probably wasn’t the smartest move of either of them. That order only startled the plasmas, who now put themselves blocking the path.  
  
“If we’re not getting there, neither will you!”  
  
“Bad move, Plasmas.” Cheren replied, with a plan in mind. “We’ll burn through. Hilbert, you go ahead. Brycen, cover my back. Daruma,  _Flare Blitz_  those guys!”  
  
Hilbert was about to question that decision, but knew that every second would be too important to lose. Cheren was the best trainer out of the three, shouldn’t  _he_  be the one going first?  
  
Still, Hilbert went on a dash right behind the fiery pokémon, who opened the path up to the stairs ahead as the trainers avoided the flames at the last second, leaving an opening to the floor above that he did not hesitate to take, clearing the steps only to find a black statue of what couldn’t be anything but a stone depiction of Zekrom.  
  
That is, implying that statues could move, releasing blue electric sparks as they did.  
  
The black dragon faced the stranger, roaring as he took Hilbert as an opponent. Besides the shock, there was no reaction from him, staring at how powerful that pokémon could ever be. Not even his four pokémon together would be able to dent the thing.  
  
And, more surprising than finding the dragon there, was noticing there was someone else there. Someone he knew.  
  
“We meet again, Hilbert. I expected no less from you.”  
  
 _It can’t be possible…_  
  
“I always keep my promises. Remember what I said when we met at Nacrene? I told you I’d get Zekrom to help me, and here it is! With his power, the perfect world is about to be real!”  
  
“It won’t” Hilbert wasn’t sure about what he said, but had no other choice but to bluff. He knew he wouldn’t have any chance alone, but odds would be better with Cheren and Brycen helping.  
  
N, however, couldn’t hold his laughing.  
  
“Even with all of that, you still put yourself against me. Don’t be silly, you’re just too close-minded to accept the truth!”  
  
“Not every trainer is bad as you paint it, N! And not every pokémon hate their trainers.  _That_  was the reason Volts disliked you on the spot!”  
  
That was N’s turn to be left speechless.  
  
“Come on, you can ask any of them!” Hilbert tossed all of his pokéballs, freeing his four pokémon. “See if  _any_  of them agree with you!”  
  
“After all of that…” N was talking much slower than usual, almost making himself understandable. “I tried to deny that, but maybe you are the other chosen soul, after all.”  
  
“The other what?”  
  
From where Hilbert stood, he could hear glimpses of the battle going through below him. His smile wasn’t because of what N said, rather than realizing the battle just ended.  
  
“Have you ever asked yourself how your journey is going so well despite you being so naïve and sloppy? Have you ever thought about your pokémon growing stronger compared to other trainers even without… training?”  
  
Enough food for thought. Cheren had defeated him in the only battle they had, but asked Hilbert to go ahead instead, even knowing the hardest opponent would be the one upstairs. Brycen, as a gym leader, referred to him as “the big one”. Maybe N had a point there.  
  
“Let’s say you’re right. What does it change?”  
  
“There’s the norm, and there’s you as an exception. Trainers are cruel by nature, they only think about getting stronger…”  
  
Hilbert looked back as he heard the steps; Cheren and Brycen were climbing upwards.  
  
“And what about… them?”  
  
“There you are, the talentless and the lunatic…”  
  
They didn’t react to his taunt, probably because the black dragon behind N was fearsome enough to get them both speechless.  
  
“I’ve known about you for a while, Brycen. A pathetic excuse for a gym leader, you’re only there because of your fame as an actor. “N pointed to the older trainer, his mocking tone not enough to get the opponent startled. “Don’t even try to argue, Cheren, you’re worse than him. Twelve hours a day, right? You might remember when we met at Driftveil, right? Is your Dewott still angry at you?”  
  
Judging by how stiff was his face, N’s claim was probably true.  
  
“Don’t forget, Hilbert,  _these_  are the people you’re trying to protect.”   
  
“Don’t listen to that madman!”  
  
“The dragons were sealed in stone because they were too dangerous, they can’t be controlled by power alone. People like these two would lose their mind trying to get them to obey. Still, Zekrom trusts me. Only those with a pure heart and unshakable moral can hold that much power without going insane!”  
  
 _I’d think you’re already insane,_  Hilbert thought to himself, while Zekrom gave a big roar as a response to a quick movement of Cheren. That dragon wouldn’t hesitate to attack if he went one step further.  
  
“I’ll give you a chance, Hilbert. I’m headed to the Unova league. We’ll defeat them, one by one, in what will be the last time pokémon will be hurt because of humans. But, as you know, there is  _someone_  that can face us at equal strength.”  
  
“Reshiram…”  
  
“You’re starting to learn your stuff. If you really want to go to the last consequences, seek for Reshiram and then you go after me. That is, if you think your beliefs are stronger than my ideals.” And then, facing Zekrom, N finished. “Let’s go!”  
  
Hilbert fell onto the floor as N and Zekrom flied away, realizing he was already defeated, and without a battle.


	7. Tempest

Hilink Forest was empty as always, and thus no one was surprised by the strange blueish formation burning through the skies that morning.  
  
Not that the oversized Golurk would be the weirdest thing to see, not even considering the young boy on top of it, riding the mechanic pokémon as if it was a peaceful Sawsbuck on a flower field.  
  
Hilbert had enough worries on his mind  to care about the reaction of anyone observing him from the grounds. Any second could be vital to save the world as he knew it, despite not having the answers he had searched for the last two weeks.  
  
Without anything left to do except wait for that ride to end, the trainer decided to recap what happened those days, looking for any flaw of his that could have stopped N since Zekrom was awakened. The  man he considered to be a friend, now taking Unova by assault, using his force to convince people about Pokémon liberation.  
  
It was weird to think how the tables had turned so quickly, and even more not knowing what he could have done about it.  
  
Because, of course, Hilbert didn’t believe N could be crazy enough to try and hunt Zekrom, and to get him as an ally to boot.  
  
Not even Drayden’s help was enough to elucidate it. The mayor of Opelucid city, also a specialist of Dragon-type pokémon, didn’t have even half of the answers. Of course, he knew about Reshiram and Zekrom and how they were turned into nothing more than a tale in order to protect the dragons from greedy humans — and vice-versa. And about how the white dragon was the only one that could stop Zekrom if the worst happened, now that he was under the control of such a dubious trainer.  
  
Worth noting that not even Drayden believed the dragons could ever return, before the incident on the Dragonspiral Tower.  
  
Luckily for the trainer, he had friends to help him. Cheren in particular believed that Hilbert was the only one with a chance to control Reshiram, based on what he saw that day. Recognizing defeat after seeing how strong his friend had become with minimal training, he decided to take Hilbert to the Relic Castle ruins, with the aid of a Teleport from Cheren’s Beeheyem.  
  
And, while that exploration was fruitless in terms of discovering about Reshiram’s location, it wasn’t a total loss of time. At the very least, the duo had to fight the pokémon protecting the ruins, both trainers teaming up to fight a big Golurk.  
  
Hilbert smiled as he remembered that battle, especially because he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that alone. The duo of Nuts and Cheren’s Samurott did a good job stalling the big opponent, with the battle ending as swift as Hilbert’s Ultra Ball locking the Golurk in. He’d since revealed himself as very helpful, at least in terms of transport, despite losing a bit of speed now they were over half of their journey.  
  
“We’re almost there, Jaeger. Do you think you can handle it a bit further?”  
  
The wild roar he got in response did not hide how tired he was, but Hilbert’s words made the Golurk accelerate again, leaving a purplish smoke behind. The trainer almost lost his balance at that, making sure his backpack wouldn’t fall from his shoulders. His belongings were too important to risk losing.  
  
He remembered, of course, to check Nacrene’s museum yet again, following N’s directions to study about it further. The Relic expo was still on, and Hilbert expected to meet people well versed on the theme, because he was at the point of getting to know everything about the legend.  
  
And his persistence was rewarded by meeting Lenora again, her being not only the gym leader but also the museum’s curator. He ended up remembering most of that conversation, and he would either way even if he wasn’t trying to.  
  
“Calm down, kid. Why the sudden interest?”  
  
“I know you won’t believe me, but I saw Zekrom being awakened, and it must be stopped.”  
  
“Could it have been a bad dream?”  
  
“I was in Dragonspiral Tower when it happened. I’m sure you’ve seen the news. You can ask Brycen about it…”  
  
“Calm down, Hilbert. Supposing you’re right, Reshiram is sure to appear from wherever he is. That’s what the legend is about. Dark is only dark because light exists; You can’t have white without black. They complement each other!”  
  
“Well, Zekrom must be stopped now, or Team Plasma will win!”  
  
“And thus someone with a pure heart is going to awaken Reshiram. We’ll know when time is due.”  
  
“You don’t seem to care how high the stakes are now!”  
  
“Legend has repeated itself a few times without fault. Please, come with me!”  
  
Both of them walked through the museum, stopping at the same exact place Hilbert and N chatted that other day.  
  
“Reshiram and Zekrom are parts of the same thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they were once the same pokémon. Black needs white to exist, and the same happens to them. Their last battle happened three thousand years ago, and all that was left in the mess were both gems. The Dim Gem ended up lost in a recent war, but the Luminous Gem is…”  
  
Lenora stopped talking as she looked at the object. The white sphere was glowing inside the dome, floating two inches above the stand.  
  
That was the last thing he remembered clearly enough from the meeting; they both concluded the gem was important somehow to get to Reshiram. Lenora, reluctantly, allowed Hilbert to take the stone with him up to Juniper’s Pokémon Lab, something with which the professor had a word or two in making happen.  
  
Together, they dove into books and parchments, trying to locate the lost statue of Reshiram. The last historical record of that piece was from about the same time the dragons were brought to life the last time, three millenniums before, as Unova’s former king went to war against the feud of Kalos using the dragons as weapons. The temple where the statue was located then, around Undella Town, had been completely destroyed in said war.  
  
In other words, their research never left square one.  
  
No one of them were willing to quit searching, but the news that came earlier that morning changed completely their plans.  
  
Because N had defeated each and every elite Unova trainer. And his first act as champion, as he had anticipated, happened in his television speech; the black dragon sitting right behind him made the whole thing even scarier.  
  
“Unova citizens. Here talks Natural Gropius. After a sovereign decision through battle, the Imperial Throne of Unova comes to me.”  
  
_It can’t be._  
  
The green-haired boy was definitely imposing. He was using a purple robe with golden details, which made him look quite a bit like Ghetsis, that one man doing a speech in Accumula in his first day of the journey.  
  
Looking at the bright side, a robe fit the boy much better in comparison.  
  
“As I take it, I bring with me strength and respect to pokémon. They, who give us the grace of their powers even in our hardest times, deserve our only acknowledgment. We, as citizens, have them together with us not as partners, but as tools. We brought ourselves war with their aid, doing what we consider to be right, but never hearing what the other side has to say.”  
  
Hilbert had already tossed everything to the side, packing his things, knowing not N’s next words, but what they’d mean. He had to be stopped, Reshiram or not.  
  
“Thus, I’ll devote my reign to them, victims of our slavery for centuries beyond count. Rather, no more. As my first act as the ruler of Unova, I declare that pokémon ownership in pokéballs is now considered a violation of law and a threat to the kingdom. Those to be encountered carrying pokéballs of any variation will be considered traitors and punished with death.”  
  
The same tone of surprise could be heard everywhere. Hilbert didn’t lose any time, however. He had already packed at that point, freeing Jaeger as he went across Unova to what would be his last chance of stopping that madness.  
  
That memory went on just in time as he arrived at the Judgement Hills, and the big palace in which the League resided.  
  
Because he was willing to do anything to stop that act of stubbornness. Or die trying.


	8. Zephyr

Golurk landed on the dirt floor around where the Pokémon League headquarters were located, giving Hilbert a breathtaking view no matter which side he’d look at first. The cliff was facing south, on which a broad view of Unova greeted newcomers to the league, guaranteed shivers from remembering the places they went through in order to get to that point of their journey. Even Hilbert ended up mesmerized by the scenery, losing perhaps half a minute looking at the horizon, surprised by how close Opelucid City was from those hills.  
  
Soon enough he was facing the other side; the Greenhouse Castle just close to him, which doubled as the current king’s residence and the central dome for Unovan’s political decisions. Its main access path had been built underground, on which the Battle Chambers were built afterwards, on which challengers could fight their way into royal domain; not only as a safety measure, but to avoid blocking the castle view from outside.  
  
Hilbert wasn’t prepared for the amount of destruction he found in his path through the chambers, even though he already imagined the worse. He knew, at that point, that the four elite trainers were already defeated by the superior strength of Zekrom, but didn’t expect to find the chamber completely trashed, to the point it was surprising to see it had not collapsed.  
  
Without any sign of life in the place, Hilbert just moved forward, weighing how the Battle Chambers would probably never be fixed again, a side effect of N’s decree from earlier.  
  
The Unova Pokémon League had an average of twelve to fifteen challengers every year, great trainers who had defeated every gym leader; all of that hunting for fame, rich and strength. All of that started with the war against Kalos around three millennia before; ever since, the Emperor Council delimited that the kingdom needed a fiercer control, on hands of proper trainers, with great leadership capability in and out of battle, not to suffer a humiliation like that ever again, on which the League Challenge was born.  
  
Those times of war were long gone, but that law was never revoked; that also meant any trainer strong enough could usurp the king if it was stronger than the current one. There were a few mechanisms to control what challengers could and could not do; for example, the Emperor Council comprised four battlers, who were to gauge possible challengers, and six senators, responsible to articulate the pokémon gyms together with city mayors. The influx of challengers only calmed down once the Gauntlet was enforced, on which a trainer had to defeat all four battlers in quick succession to have a chance to face the king.  
  
That war model was soon replicated in other places because of how well-built it was. In no other place than Unova, however, sovereign power came together with the Ministry of Defense tribulations, on which Unova League had an extra measure, on which only those born in Unova could legally take the challenge.  
  
In the last fourteen years, however, Alder Mirto was challenged no more than five times, being the victor in all of those without much challenge. The system was far from being considered fair, as any challenger would need to defeat the five strongest trainers of Unova without a rest. But considering whoever could defeat Alder would be the new king, it was hard to see the system being contested, especially because he had been an example of a good monarch ever since he defeated the last occupant of the throne.  
  
It was hard for Hilbert not to think about it while going through newfound ruins of the Chambers, being those also the house of the Emperor Council. That meant the Unova Pokémon League had been completely destroyed, not only in its physical form, but also as a political system.  
  
It was harder not to build anger at N, who had ignored completely the history to the detriment of his own convictions.  
  
Not only that pokémon liberation crap was being dealt with, but all the Unova kingdom. His decree meant an end to pokémon ownership, but also to half of the Emperor Council and the gym leaders as well. And, without those, it was also impossible to challenge the king, making the millenary war decree void as well.  
  
N’s speech made clear enough that Alder was defeated in a battle; not even the mythical trainer could rival the power of Zekrom, or so it seemed. Hilbert had no time to find himself surprised by that, having met the legendary dragon in person, but to think he’d be able to defeat the best five trainers in Unova in quick succession was more than he expected from a single pokémon.  
  
And yet Hilbert was there, carefully climbing the stairs at the opposing side, which led to the Greenhouse Castle foyer, expecting to have a chance to defeat N. It’d be impossible to do through a pokémon battle, but something told Hilbert it was worth trying.  
  
Silent as he was, he went unnoticed at first by the crowding at the foyer’s center. Six people on the left side, all of which Hilbert had a chance to meet earlier; Drayden and Brycen were ahead and speaking in the name of the gym leaders. Another half dozen to the right, all wearing colored robes and pointy hats, carrying with them the age of experience. Their white hair, or the lack of it for one of them, seemed to emphasize the big pendant with the Unova crest each of them were wearing.  
  
The arguing between the leaders and what probably were the Unova senators was heated and full of foul words, shouting and shaming each other, as they ignored a third group, kind of tied behind them.  
  
Better said, literally tied to each other, either unable to get out of the tangle or just not caring enough to try. That corner didn’t have the best lightning, on which Hilbert could not discern if he knew any one of those. And, while the urge to help them kicked in, the trainer knew he wouldn’t be able to go there unnoticed, as he noticed the Shadow Triad guarding that group.  
  
And, as he knew everyone was too busy to notice there was someone else in the room, Hilbert took the set of stairs to his right, far from everyone else, storming silently through the place without an opinion about what he just saw. He knew all of that was directly related to N and his decree, and that the best way to solve that dilemma was getting to the green-haired boy.  
  
Hilbert knew that Zekrom wouldn’t even be his hardest opponent, nothing compared to what he felt about his friend. He couldn’t help but feel sick about it when picturing they’d meet anytime soon, knowing it wouldn’t be any kind of nice.  
  
The trainer checked every room in his way up, those which were not closed were empty, in a sign that every one of their possible occupants would be arguing   
downstairs.  
  
 _Or maybe too busy being prisoners_ , he though. Maybe those four people tied up could be the battlers from the Emperor Council. That could be a good thing, which meant N couldn’t use them to protect him as the new king.  
  
 _If I ever find him.  
_  
Another group of stairs to go through, at the middle of the corridor. Hilbert felt it closer now, as he went up and found that one place where N would be if not hiding: the throne room. It couldn’t be anything else behind, judging by the big and sculpted stone doors.  
  
Calling them doors was kind of understatement; they had a picture of each of the legendary dragons carved in its surface, facing themselves with eager. At the center, the knob was shaped in the circular symbol of yin-yang, which carried with it the meaning within the legend.  
  
 _There’s no evil without good. There’s no good without evil._  
  
Hilbert’s thoughts went in as he pushed the stone gates, opening a path big enough for him to fit into. Facing the big white corridor ahead, he could see a few steps at the end, on top of which the throne was located, and a big window just behind it.  
  
Between him and the stairs, at around the midway point, N was standing, with Zekrom laying down just behind.  
  
“I knew you’d be the one coming, Hilbert.”  
  
The trainer could not answer. Too nervous to try, in fact, intimidated by both the black dragon and the person in front of him.  
  
“I can’t hide my disappointment.” N added. “I can’t see Reshiram with you, and it means that either you caught him in a pokéball, or didn’t even find him. I don’t know which of these makes me sadder.”  
  
It was the opposite of what he felt back at Dragonspiral Tower. That time, Hilbert could try to argue and bluff to get some time, on which things ought to be better. Now, each second only made it worse for him, because he knew he wasn’t strong enough for that fight.  
  
The only thing that could help the trainer was within the legend. The Luminous Gem was already out of his pocket, sitting in Hilbert’s hand in a vain hope that it could be helpful.  
  
At a soft roar from Zekrom, if that thing had something that could be called soft, N went back to speaking:  
  
“You came here to defeat me in a battle, I see. But Reshiram did not recognize you as hero. Pathetic. I expected more from you…” N smiled, not in a friendly way. “I kind of liked you, so I’ll give you two options. If you insist on battling me, I’ll let you know it’s a lost cause. But I’ll give you a chance to go home now, I promise not to hurt you so you can see the ideal world about to grow!”  
  
The trainer squirmed at that last sentence, fighting himself in that duality. How can you feel something good about someone so cruel?  
  
His only true option was fighting back. Or die trying.  
  
“I didn’t go this far to turn my back now.” Hilbert shouted, throwing the pokéball he had in the other hand. “Hakun, this is the final battle!”  
  
“Do you really think you can stop me… with this?” N replied, staring at the Emboar as he arose, punching his fists against each other. If he was intimidated to see Zekrom as his opponent, he was hiding it really well.  
  
“Don’t underestimate us! Hakun, let’s show him how strong we…”  
  
Before Hilbert could finish his attack order, however, the Luminous Gem started to glow again, this time strong enough to blind everyone in the room. And, as the light started to dim back, a dragon was standing between the trainer and his Emboar.  
  
The white dragon faced Hilbert, the boy surprised as he held nothing instead. The trainer smiled, knowing Reshiram came up to the rescue, on which those blue eyes were enough sign that he’d take the trouble on his claws.  
  
Only then Hilbert understood, as if the dragon itself answered the question the boy had been asking for those last days.  
  
It was nothing but a mistranslation. The dragons had been turned to stone. But, as they understood the hieroglyphs, they should be more like statues, sized as the dragons themselves. It wouldn’t ever cross his mind it could be a literal stone instead, a sphere no bigger than two inches wide, containing that much power. The same thing probably happened with Zekrom coming from the Dim Gem, which probably was waiting for the right bearer at the Dragonspiral Tower.  
  
Maybe, if he had figured it out earlier, that crisis could have been averted before it started.  
  
And, in that split-second of thought, both dragons were suddenly grappling themselves, now floating on what would be the greatest battle Unova could have seen in a long while.  
  
Reshiram and Zekrom had isolated themselves as they started floating in a colored sphere, ranging from red to blue, starting from where their tails touched the energy dome. Most of it was toned purple, as the colors mixed itself while the dragons had that motionless battle.  
  
Hilbert caught himself hypnotized by how the energy dome shone above his head. Like both dragons were part of another dimension, fighting themselves not with moves, but their mental power.  
  
And the same would happen below, as N started to talk, its opponent realizing he wasn’t that great at that type of battle.  
  
“You ought to remember both dragons were once the same, opposite beings dividing the same body…”  
  
“I mean… why does that matter?” Hilbert replied, not wanting to partake at any pointless discussion. “Look at you, destroying a kingdom with thousands…”  
  
“Who are you to talk about destruction, when you trainers have been doing that ever since?” N cut him short, frowning. “Pokémon were not made to battle as you might think. They’re creatures first and friends second, all I do is because of them. An ideal world.”  
  
“You’re wrong, N! I don’t like being the one to contradict you, but it’s your stubbornness acting now. Don’t try to fix what’s not broken!”  
  
“You’re defending a kingdom created over a pile of war and tragedy, Hilbert! I’m doing all of this as I hunt for some peace!”  
  
“But your acts are starting a new war! Look at Team Plasma and what they do in the name of pokémon liberation. Better yet, look at the wreck those senators are doing downstairs in your name, trying to kick the gym leaders out of their scheme for power!”  
  
“You just put your finger on the wound, Hilbert. You’re talking about people and their greed. If that means humans should kill themselves for pokémon to build an ideal world, so let be it!” N stopped, tasting the surprise on Hilbert’s face. “I bet you’re thinking I’ve gone crazy by now!”  
  
“You got it wrong; I’m sure your ideas hold water, but the means…”  
  
A wild roar stopped Hilbert’s mumbling; Zekrom had the upper hand in the battle going between the dragons. The energy dome was glowing blue, with a small red spot around Reshiram’s tail trembling, as it tried to overcome the strength of the opposing dragon.  
  
“You say the world is based on truths, Hilbert, but you fail to realize noble ideals may overcome those.”  
  
 _Truths…  
  
I lied when I denied thinking N is crazy… Could it be…  
_  
“Your ideals are nothing but insanity!” Hilbert shouted, fighting back into the discussion. “Thousands of years have passed that way, and nobody ever dares to fight it back. This alone should tell you how this is pure madness!”  
  
“I always knew what you thought about me, Hilbert. Why do you even try to hide it?”  
  
Hilbert glanced above, noticing that Reshiram had recovered in the fight, red and blue mixed together in equal parts again.  
  
 _Truth can set us free…  
  
But… how can I be sure it’s truth?  
_  
“I remember when we first met in Accumula…” Hilbert started, trying to build some courage. “I thought you were crazy, saying you could talk with pokémon and all. But I relieved that, because we seemed to agree that the true madman was the one doing that speech…”  
  
“Ghetsis…”  
  
“What did you say?”  
  
“The leader of Team Plasma. We’ve talked a lot about pokémon liberation before. He’s nothing but a greedy hypocrite.”  
  
“I thought you were just like that too. Especially after you creeped me to the Ferris Wheel that day…”  
  
N couldn’t hide his shock to the sudden words from Hilbert, who took the opportunity to look at the dragons once more. Reshiram had a very slight advantage at that time.  
  
“Like I was saying… we met a few times after that. You were always that little bit crazier than a normal person would. But those were nice moments, despite me never understanding why. Did you feel the same?”  
  
“I guess… at the museum, at least…”  
  
“I dare to think it’s more than just that. You took me to the Ferris Wheel, even though I was busy at that time. It wasn’t about Team Plasma just yet, but I couldn’t think about anything else, you answered me with your convictions… but then, weeks later, you save me from the Shadow Triad somehow…”  
  
It was N’s turn to be left speechless, something Hilbert never thought to be possible,  
  
“I never thought seriously about that until then,” he continued, “but you seemed to care about me. Even when your devotion grew stronger than your true feelings, you tried to warn me about what would happen…”  
  
“Stop it, Hilbert, you’re not…”  
  
“Every time we met I seemed to be a different person. I started my journey as an innocent boy, someone without a reason to be. Reality went and drove me crazy, until I forced myself to recover my senses. Then I worked out to grow stronger, and it’s all because of you!”  
  
“I thought it was all about beating Cheren, your Emboar told me that!”  
  
“He can’t tell you what he doesn’t know. I never talked about it, it would be crazy… but what made me sane was the urge to fight you… to hear what you think about that ideal world of yours, to antagonize you just to see you squirming, only to see you trying to question me… I couldn’t see it back then, but now it’s clear as water!”  
  
A new roar brought them both to where they were, discussing under a couple of dragons stuck into some kind of motionless battle. Reshiram had definitely overcome his trouble from before; Zekrom was the one cornered now, a tiny spot of blue remaining in a red sphere of energy with both dragons inside.  
  
The carmine glint was the last bit of heart Hilbert needed to admit his next words. Not to N, who could have seen that from a mile away; neither to Loony, whose Dream Mist would be perpetually citrus because of how many times he saved his trainer from those thoughts that would drive him insane otherwise.  
  
The hardest part was admitting it to himself.  
  
“I love you, N! All that time traveling, the only thing that truly motivated me to continue was to find you. Months came and went, the only thing that could keep me on track was asking Loony to use his Dream Eater on me, or I couldn’t do anything else. It took all this time for me to accept that, and this is the only reason I came here to fight even before having found Reshiram, because I thought it would be last chance I’d ever have to see you!”  
  
The room filled itself with blush, starting from N, then Hilbert right after. Reshiram blushed in sequence, but as a result of his personal battle against Zekrom, which finally came to an end in an explosion of red as well, a scarlet tone to overcome the white from the throne room…  
  
The energy dome was gone already, dissolved in a snap. Zekrom hit the floor soon after, fainted; a decent sized hole carved where he hit it, almost two feet deep; Reshiram touched the floor right after, but with a swift landing close to Hilbert.  
  
 _Truth has won it._  
  
But N collapsed just as his dragon did, realizing his loss was much bigger than just the dragons battling.  
  
“It’s ruined! The ideals I had… Why did the world choose you as a hero?”  
  
Hilbert was close enough to touch him, extending his hand.  
  
“I’ll use your own words now… The world is not black or white, it has many shades of gray. There’s no hero or villain, because no one can be completely right or wrong.” He grabbed N’s hand, pulling the friend from the floor. “Come with me, we can still fix it!”  
  
“One of us fighting for ideals, the other sticking to the truth. How can both of us be right?”  
  
“Who knows? We can work together to find it out!”  
  
It was at that time that Alder entered the room.  
  
Not even a camera could catch the full extent of surprise on his face when he got to see the legendary black dragon on the floor, defeated. Finding the white dragon just around, looking at him with a peaceful glint, made the king do a double-take, scratching his eyes silently in disbelief, as no words could express what he felt.  
  
“Nice to meet you, Alder. My name is Hilbert.”  
  
“What in the world happened here? How is that even possible?”  
  
“There’s no time to go in details, but indeed Zekrom was defeated.”  
  
“I can see that! Does that mean you’re the champion now?”  
  
“Of course not. I cannot reclaim a throne what was never taken from you.”  
  
“He’s right, Mr. Mirto. It was a mistake of mine coming here today.”  
  
Alder stepped back once in surprise, and twice not to trip. It was already hard enough to imagine a trainer coming out of nowhere with the second legendary dragon, but bringing senses to the one who started all of that mess was a league above that.  
  
“I mean, I can’t make sense of a thing!”  
  
“It might be better this way. That’ll make it easier to believe nothing happened at all.” Hilbert walked slowly towards Alder. “If I were the king, I’d make a formal speech saying that broadcast earlier was a test and that Natural Gropius never existed. Believe me, Unova does not need to know what happened today.”  
  
Alder looked at both of them, reactionless as N nodded in response.  
  
“Reshiram, this goes for you too.” Hilbert faced both the awake and the fainted dragon. “I’m really thankful for your help, but this is a war that shouldn’t have been fought. I’m sorry in the name of the kingdom for all that happened.”  
  
In a quick flash of light and a soft roar, the dragons were gone; both Luminous and Dim Gems were left where they were last.  
  
“Please, Alder, I trust you on that one.” Hilbert insisted, now to the annoyance of N. “Keep these two stones safe. They’re the treasure and soul of Unova, we can’t risk them going in wrong hands.”  
  
“I guess, but please explain me, how the hell we got to this point?”  
  
“Nothing happened here, and you can’t prove otherwise.”  
  
Hilbert looked at the big hole behind the throne, where the few remains of a window were before. Throwing once more Jaeger’s pokéball to free him, he found the Golurk had rested for a bit, enough for another trip.  
  
“Sorry to push you further, but could we have a ride to Opelucid this time?”  
  
As the mechanic pokémon agreed, Hilbert turned to N with a gesture.  
  
“Are you coming too?”  
  
And, despite the initial hesitation from the green-haired boy, both of them left through the opening, leaving a confused Alder to clean up that mess.


	9. Cloudless

The first morning after the battle was also the first when Hilbert could find some peace ever since he left for his journey, months before. No worries about getting to the next city, no colorful dreams to bother him as he woke up. N was still sleeping, at his side, under the tent they both set up in Opelucid City outskirts.  
  
The sun was still shy on the sky, giving him time to get properly awake; quite the perfect moment for him to recall the last day, as he tried to figure out how things went after he left the Greenhouse Castle. The mess started by N’s speech was only the spark that set fire to a much bigger scheme, on which he started gathering details after watching Alder trying to retract the first speech:  
  
‘I, Alder Mirto, come to the public to apologize for my biggest mistake as a king. Because of my weakness, the Unova Kingdom suffered a strike claimed by Team Plasma, an attack I could not protect you from, people from Unova, who are the sole reason this kingdom exists. Our enemy, however, have infiltrated us for years, an oversight on which I admit my fault...’  
  
As the king brought up Team Plasma as responsible for what happened, Hilbert couldn’t think about anything but N, who would probably end up as a villain worse than he could have ever been. Somehow, Alder fixed that:  
  
‘That video broadcast earlier today was nothing but a fraud. Using the image of a serious trainer, they tried to make you think I was defeated in a battle that never happened. Using the legendary dragon’s myth over that, they went through an illusion there was something stronger than our kingdom…’  
  
“So, what really happened when you came to the Castle?” Hilbert asked N at that time, close to sunset the day before; the boy hid his greenish hair under his cap, as he did with the pendant and the void cube he usually had with him. It wouldn’t be nice if someone noticed it was him, as they were watching the speech in a pokémon center.  
  
“Well, after the elite trainers gathered together and lost, one of the senators took me straight to the speech room. Zinzolin told me Alder refused to battle me after seeing how powerful Zekrom was.”  
  
“So you never met him?”  
  
“Not until he joined us after you convinced me I was wrong.”  
  
‘Betrayed by my own council, I ended up in Castelia this morning, only to realize the place I should be was the one I had just left. Plasma’s attack could have been successful, and would if luck wasn’t by our side. I’m really thankful to the trainer that helped us to sort this, with his well-trained pokémon and flowing courage to stand against them until things could be elucidated. And, while the criminals managed to escape, this means the senate has been dissolved. I’m calling the assembly this week, so we can decide our future. But I’ll be proud to invite that anonymous trainer to take part on the kingdom.’  
  
“Alder’s not talking about me, I hope.”  
  
“Doubt it.” N replied, with a smile. “You’ve been clear enough.”  
  
Alder’s speech would end only a few minutes later, but not without calling each of the senators out as the Team Plasma admins as they were, placing a bounty on their heads as they ran away. Of course, the pokéball proscription was considered void; as through his words, he couldn't revoke a law that had never been in effect.  
  
Adding to this, N’s name wasn’t cited even once, which was enough to make he feel better, now that he realized how far had been gone with his ideals.  
  
Only then he had been able to sleep, for which he just woke up as Hilbert was still thinking about Alder’s speech. And, for that reason, he couldn't hold his questions in his smile; it was good to have company, something neither of them truly had for a good while, but that also led to his curiosity:  
  
“Uh, what about now?” Hilbert asked.  
  
“If you’re talking about pokémon liberation, that won’t ever change, I still think they should be free from humans.”  
  
“You never change…”  
  
“But I do. My methods were faulty at best. I tried to bring the power of Zekrom to convince people, but my blind faith didn’t let me see the obvious. I became the very type of person I despise. No wonder you defeated me.”  
  
Hilbert looked at his friend, surprised by how maturity hit the boy strong so quickly. He knew he probably had undergone through the same kind of changes as well, which helped his attitudes the day before.  
  
“You still can’t understand me, Hilbert. I know that face of yours.” N smiled, his hearty reaction coming to a surprise as they talked about that. “I mean, of course you’re not like the rest, or Reshiram would never trust you…”  
  
“Believe you or not, I did get your point. But I think it’s too much for this world to accept.”  
  
“Tell me a joke!”  
  
“No, seriously. You’re trying to make the world a better place, but shouldn’t we make the people better for this world to thrive?”  
  
N didn’t try to hide his blush.  
  
“I need to tell you a thing, Hilbert.”  
  
“What’s that?”  
  
“I never truly talked with you about when we first met in Accumula, right? It was the very first time I saw a pokémon say he liked his trainer - of course, I'm talking about your Tepig. He broke the illusion I had that trainers were always terrible people, I had to reconsider what I believed… I take you as an exception, but what if you’re not the only one?”  
  
“What do you mean with that?”  
  
“Your intentions are so clear and pure everyone can see it through. That includes your pokémon, and that’s why they trust you, then can see how you act, they know you want them to be happy and reciprocate that. Of course, you have an outstanding talent in battle to go with, but outside of that, there might be people just like you around the corner…”  
  
Hilbert took his turn to blush at the compliment; unsure about how to reply to that, he was saved by a Pidove chirping above his head.  
  
“Look, he’s got a message for you!”  
  
“I guess, pretty sure I’ve seen that Pidove before…” Hilbert’s memory had not betrayed him; he recognized Cheren’s handwriting on a thin paper the flying pokémon brought him. It quickly left, in a clear sign the sender did not expect a reply.  
  
  


> “Hilbert.
> 
> This was the safest way I could think to get this message to your hands. I don’t know how you managed to awaken Reshiram and stop N, but Unova is really thankful to you. As we know, that N guy is affiliated with Team Plasma. I understand you have protected him, but if you’re willing to take my advice, you’d be better stay away from him.
> 
> As for the league, I came in not long after you left. Watarimoto and Daruma helped me to free those trainers from that mess, and with Alder’s help we could hold things up until police arrived. That Shadow Triad somehow managed to escape,  I suggest you stay alert for them. It’s like they’re not even humans.
> 
> Alder invited me to help to rebuild the senate, something I had no choice but to refuse. I do not have enough power and maturity to take on a burden this big. But I believe you’re the right guy for that, and put your name in for that.
> 
> Interested or not, I hope you get to pay him a visit.
> 
> All in all, I’ll start something new in my life, exploring the west portion of Unova. If you ever need to reach me, I’ll be in Aspertia for a week or two.
> 
> Cheren.”

  
  
“You look strange… what’s on that letter?”  
  
“Nothing worth our time.” Hilbert lied, still weighing those words.  
  
“You still try to fool me? You’re frowning, it can’t be nothing!”  
  
Hilbert looked straight to N’s eyes, searching for the best way to say what he had been building ever since he left the castle.  
  
“It’s about time for me to leave.”  
  
“Time for  _what_?”  
  
“Can’t stay in Unova anymore. I’ll be eternally linked to what happened yesterday, no matter what I do; it’s already spreading. I can’t erase that, but my only hope for a peaceful life is going somewhere no one knows me.”  
  
“Is that what you really want?”  
  
“I need to. And you should do the same as well.”  
  
“What are you planning?”  
  
“I’m heading north. They say Kalos is beautiful that time of the year.”  
  
N couldn’t hide his disappointment. As he finally got a chance to talk with his friend like that, any hope had been crushed by those last words.  
  
He started to think Hilbert wasn’t truly honest during that battle in the castle, using those words as a trick to defeat him.  
  
“You’re not doing that to me, Hilbert! You can’t leave all of that behind, not after what you told me yesterday!”  
  
“It’s exactly because of yesterday. This fame is not mine for me to claim.”  
  
“But…”  
  
Hilbert had already turned his back to N, now facing the hills where the castle was built atop. If he was really going to Kalos, he’d need to go through it, despite not willing to stop there.  
  
“You know what?” N grabbed Hilbert’s arm. “If you’re going to Kalos, I’m going with you!”  
  
He just looked back, finally giving him a smile.  
  
“What took you so long? I was thinking I’d need to formally invite you!”  
  
Both of them crossed their arms in a hug, their heads side by side as their chests touched. Hilbert could feel the warmth as his pulsation went up in a rush. Something he was already used to feel, in fact. But unlike all previous times, it was finally real. Loony was safe in his pokéball and, even if he wasn’t, there was no way for him to feed on that memory.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
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>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> Author Responses: This author replies to comments.
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> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!“


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